Whelp, here's a story I wanted to try out, lets see what happens...
Don't own the Percy Jackson series.


It was close...

She could sense it, the monster she'd been tracking for days ever since the stories of its destruction reached the ears of the hunters. A young dragon had been running loose along the countryside, tearing apart the houses of unsuspecting mortals and devouring groups of terrified livestock. The mortals had blamed the attacks on wolves, the destruction on poor drivers or very localized earthquakes, but Artemis and her Hunters knew better. Since tracking down a wild monster was a bit below the normal quest for Camp Half Blood, it fell to the hunters to kill it before the dragon managed to seriously hurt someone.

She had tracked it into the middle of a dense wood, and she was surprised and very thankful that the dragon hadn't decided to fly away. It was odd behavior, but worked in her favor. This was the first mission that Artemis had let her go on alone, and she was determined to prove that she could handle it. All she needed to do was wait until the dragon went to sleep and she could take it out quick and easy.

It finally seemed like her chance was arriving as the sun sank beneath the horizon, the dragon had been slowing down, it's head lowering closer and closer to the ground. Finally it let out a powerful yawn, exposing its rows of gleaming teeth, before collapsing to the forest floor, shaking the branches of all the nearby trees. She didn't jump forward immediately though, she had to make sure the dragon was deeply asleep, she wasn't nearly skilled enough to face it head on. After an hour she figured she'd waited long enough and stalked forward, drawing a long hunting knife.

Hardly any starlight managed to get through the roof of branches above her so she tracked the location of the dragon from its deep snoring. She continued to move closer, inch by inch, till she was a few feet away, hey eyes focusing a to perfect strike point. The thin eyelids covered one of the dragon's few weak points, it's eyes. But before she had a chance to move any closer her leg slammed into something very solid and sent her falling to the ground. She bit her lit to avoid calling out but whatever she bumped into let out a loud curse. From the sound of the voice, it sound like the last possible thing she needed at the moment, a boy.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" she hissed, trying to see if the boy's curse had woken the dragon. From the snores it appeared the dragon was undisturbed.

"Don't talk," he replied in a whisper, obviously trying to keep himself under control, "I've been hunting this dragon for over a week," the boy slowly turned to face her, but all she could make out were his eyes, they were light blue, and strangely unnerving.

"What?" she almost shrieked, how could this boy claim her hunt? This was her fight, her glory, "I've been tracking this monster, it's my kill," her voice slowly rose with anger.

"Quiet!" hissed the boy, his eyes darting back to the dragon, fearful.

"The dragon's been asleep for over an hour, I doubt we'll wake it up with a whispered conversation," she hissed back, glaring angrily.

"Dragons are smart, and much better at sensing heroes than other monsters, that's what makes them so dangerous," he explained, "I was trying to get it into a deep enough sleep so I could attack it, but you interrupted me."

"What do you mean 'get it into a deep enough sleep?'" she asked, confused.

"I-" he stopped, his eyes opening wide as he realized something. In a moment she knew what it was, the dragon's snoring had stopped.

Two beams of light illuminated the darkness as the dragon opened its eyes. Slowly it arched its back, stretching it mighty wings, its red scales seeming to glow in the darkness. She shut her mouth, hoping the dragon wouldn't notice them, but she had no such luck. With sudden speed, the dragon charged at them, its head snaking forward to try and bite them. Quickly, using all the skill she had in archery, she grabbed her bow from her back and shot an arrow at the dragon's head. Her aim was true and the light of one of the dragon's eyes darkened. She had hoped the celestial bronze of the arrow would be enough to stop it, but the dragon refused to dissolve. She turned to run into the woods for more cover when she realized the boy had already gone! He'd run off to save himself!

She wasn't allowed any more time to think as the dragon's scream of rage echoed through the trees. Dashing over roots and fallen branches she found cover behind the trunk of a massive oak. Her back against the tree, she forced herself to breathe slow and evenly, trying to be as quiet as possible. She heard the dragon stalking through the woods, its breath hissing angrily through its teeth, but one thing she noticed more clearly was that the dragon was getting closer. She heard it sniffing, tracking her by scent, and she knew this time it wouldn't try a frontal assault, dragons were one of the few monsters smart enough to learn from their mistakes. Suddenly, the dragon stopped and began drawing in a huge breath. She immediately realized what the dragon was doing, it was going to breathe fire at her. Gripping her bow, she figured if she jumped out from behind the tree she might be able to get off one good shot before...

As she drew the arrow back in the bow she heard another yell, only this one wasn't from the dragon. Peeking around the edge of the tree she was greeted by an incredible sight, that stupid boy was attacking the dragon head on!

The boy was yelling as he charged at the dragon, seeming unarmed, when he yanked at something on his throat, a necklace? As he pulled it off, the metal began to glimmer and lengthen. It enlarged in a steel rob, and on the end was the blunt ball of a mace, covered with glimmering spikes of celestial bronze. Using his right arm he swung downward and smashed the dragon's front shoulder. He failed to pierce the skin, not surprising, almost no weapon could pierce dragon scale, but that didn't mean the blow didn't hurt. Hissing angrily, fire dancing around its teeth, the dragon turned to face him. Undeterred, the boy held the mace in front of him, waiting for an opening.

The girl realized she should probably help him, the last thing she wanted was his ghost haunting her if he died right now. Drawing another arrow she aimed, not at the dragon's body, but at its wings. Older dragons wings were usually tough enough to resist most conventional weapons, but luckily, this one had not matured yet. Two arrows pierced through the thin membrane, causing the monster to scream out in pain again. Seeing his chance, the boy jumped forward, smashing the dragon in the head with his mace, knocking it senseless. He didn't allow it a chance to recover, swinging his make back around into the other side of the dragon's head. This time, one of the spikes pierced the dragon's other eye, utterly blinding it. This wound was too much for the monster, and with a massive shudder, it dissolved into golden dust. The dust quickly vanished into the air, leaving behind a glittering pile of red scales.

The boy didn't even glance in her direction. His mace quickly shrank back down into a necklace, which he put back on, and he headed of to the pile of scales, quickly collecting them in a leather pouch from his a pocket of his long fleece jacket.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?" She exclaimed, running over to him and knocking his hands away.

"Taking the trophy, what else?" he explained, pushing her aside and gathering up the rest of the scales, with that done he turned away from her and started to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going? Those scales should be mine! I was the one hunting that monster!" she exclaimed, angrily gabbing his arm.

"I was hunting it first, would have taken care of it much faster if you hadn't tripped over me," he replied, yanking his arm out of her grip.

"Even so, I helped you kill it! I landed the first blow!" she countered. She would never let this boy take the glory of the fight from her.

"So what? I got the last blow. You're not Atlanta, I want the trophy, so I'm keeping it," with that he walked off, obviously not going to take any more of her complaining.

"Wait! I demand ...a hearing!" she shouted without thinking.

"A...what?" the boy asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"A hearing with my goddess Artemis. She is the goddess of the hunt so she should be able to determine who deserves the trophy," she explained, nodding her head knowingly, though not entirely sure how her goddess would react to something like this.

"So you're saying I'm going to meet the actual Goddess of The Hunt?" he asked, moving closer.

"Of course, she is always there when the hunters need her, she will be waiting back at the camp to hear the results of my hunt," she answered, making sure to put emphasis on the 'my.'

"Fine then, lets get moving," the boy decided, pocketing the bag of scales.

"R-right," she replied, surprised at how quickly he'd agreed, but eventually disregarded it. She simply wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. Artemis would surely rule in her favor, and then this boy would be out of her life. Without another word she ran off, knowing the boy would follow.


Now he had been in some uncomfortable situations in his life, but never one like this. After their initial meeting the hunter of Artemis stayed completely silent, refusing to talk to him, hardly even looking at him. Still, it didn't bother him that much, as long as he had the scales she wouldn't leave him behind. She would make sure that he met with Artemis, and that's all he really wanted.

They'd been running throughout the entire night and as the sun managed to rise out of the horizon he spied the camp ahead of them. He also spotted the group of hunter headed towards then with a pack of white wolves close behind. Almost immediately he was surrounded by growling wolves and the tips of arrows.

"And what is this doing here?" one of the hunters sneered, "I know Artemis sent you to hunt monsters Clair, but she never told you to bring them back," his hands clenched in anger, but the growling wolves stopped him from doing anything else. Still, at least he finally knew the girl's name, she certainly hadn't offered it while they had traveled.

"There were some...problems during the hunt," Clair explained, "I need to see the Lady, with him," the gaze of the other hunters darkened upon hearing this, but finally the sneering one nodded her head.

"Fine. The Lady is waiting for you in the main tent," the circle opened, allowing him to go free, but the huntress had one last remark, "be careful boy, the Lady enjoys turning rude little children into jackalopes!" With a final laugh the hunters turned and ran back to the camp.

"They were telling the truth you know, you should show respect to The Lady," muttered Clair.

"I will, as long as she shows it to me," replied the boy, staring out at the camp before him, Clair sighed as his stupidity. Heading into camp, the boy following behind, they stopped at the largest tent set up in the middle of camp, a beautiful structure covered in a shimmering silver cloth.

"The Lady is inside, wait out here while I talk to her. Try not to do anything stupid or boy-like," with a final glare she disappeared inside the tent.

"Darn, and I was all ready to riffle through your belongings," he said to himself, cracking a small grin at his own humor.

Seeing no other option, he settled himself down on the grass and waited. He was really surprised at the silence of the camp. Only a few hunters wandered outside, but as soon as they saw him they glared and walked off, as if he carried some deadly disease. The only luck he had was one of the wolves inching up to him, curious. He reached out his hand, but all the wolf did was sniff at it, then quickly turn away. Slumping his head down in defeat, he decided to keep him gaze firmly rooted on the grass. Finally, with a rustle of cloth, Clair stepped back out of the tent.

"Artemis wants to see you," she declared, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Alone?" he asked.

"Yes. She wishes to hear your side of the story," Clair answered, like it was some sort of personal insult, "just go in, I want to get this over with," forcing himself to stand back up, he hesitated slightly before the entrance. With a firm breath to gather his resolve, he walked into the tent.

Immediately he was struck by the size and decorations of the tent, it seemed you could fit every kid from Camp Half Blood inside the tent, and the walls were strewn with the skins of what looked like every animal in the world.

"I see you enjoy my trophies," turning, he finally noticed the other occupant of the tent. A small girl was seated in the center of a pile of elaborate furs. Her hair was long and auburn colored, falling gracefully to the ground, while her silver eyes watched him like a hawk. He immediately recognized her as the Goddess, appearing in her favorite form as a young maiden.

"It is a great collection, Lady Artemis," he admitted, nodding his head at her.

"It's slightly more important than a collection, some of my hunters died to bring these monsters down," he had no reply for that, "Which I suppose brings us to you. I sent Clair after that dragon, and according to her she was about to kill the dragon when you stumbled in and ruined her plan," her gaze never left him, and neither did she move from her position.

"It's the other way around, I was going to kill the dragon when she stumbled in. I did kill the dragon," he pulled out the pouch of dragon scales as proof.

"Oh yes, she told me that as well, how you tackled the dragon head on with a mace, not the most elegant weapon, but I suppose its worth something," she shrugged, "come closer," he considered refusing for a moment, but thought better of it and walked forward until he was standing almost directly in front of her.

"Now, facing a dragon directly takes some measure of bravery and stupidity, a child of Ares?" She shook her head, "No, you would have never agreed to come here to begin with. There haven't been any more children of The Big Three yet...Hermes then? My brother Apollo? Wait..." moving closer Artemis gazed directly into his eyes, "ah, I know those eyes. The eyes of a dreamer, you're a son of Morpheus. Now that is unexpected,"

"What's so surprising?" he asked, a hint of hostility creeping into his voice.

"There are countless stories of demigod heroes boy, but even I cannot recall one about a warrior son of Morpheus. But I suppose we can come to that later. Explain to me how one of my hunters ruined your hunt..." she paused, waiting for him to continue.

"I'd heard about the dragon through rumors at camp, and decided to hunt it. It wasn't that hard to find, but the problem would be if it ran. I followed it, sending it daydreams, nightmares of terrors in the sky to try and keep it on the ground. After that, I just had to wait until it reached a good area for an ambush. Once it fell asleep there I needed to force into a deep enough sleep so I could kill it without it waking up. Dragons are very perceptive to demigods, even the weak ones," Artemis only nodded, an indication that she was still listening.

"Your hunter interrupted me before it was safe. She tripped over me, waking up the dragon, forcing us into a fight. I'm sure she told you the rest," he finished. Artemis didn't reply, forcing him to stand awkwardly for several seconds, unsure of what to do, worried to even look away from the goddess.

"Wait here," she finally said, before standing up and exiting the tent. Luckily, he didn't wait for very long when Artemis reentered, followed by Clair. Clair stood next to him as Artemis turned to face them both.

"Have you come to a decision my lady?" Clair asked, obviously expecting to be granted the reward.

"The boy," she began, "was telling the truth. He was hunting the dragon, and managed to get to it before you. While you did an excellent job tracking the monster, he was the one who delivered the final blow. He deserves the trophy," her judgment was followed by a stunned silence.

"What? But he's a boy!" Shouted Clair, nearly sputtering with rage.

"Some boys make good heroes," Artemis explained, her gaze narrowing, "Percy Jackson was one such hero."

"He was one in a million, most boys are too obsessed with-" Clair realized she was disagreeing with her goddess and quickly shut her mouth. Nodding, Artemis continued.

"That is my decision, however, I think that this boy has spent far too much time in this camp," Clair smiled at that, "but, I do believe he'll need a guide back to Camp Half-Blood," Artemis glanced over to Clair,

"No I don't, I found my way out here, I can find-" he argued.

"My Lady, if I'm being punished for-" Clair began at the same time before Artemis cut them both off.

"I am not doing this for your benefit, child," Artemis stated to him, then turned to Clair, "I believe I've been neglectful of the children of the minor gods as of now. You will take this boy back to camp, and I would like a report of the new demigods. If Morpheus can produce a warrior son, I am curious as to what skills the others may possess," hesitating for just a moment, Clair bowed to her patron.

"Very well, you are dismissed. As for you," she turned her piercing gaze onto the boy, "Somehow I doubt this is the last I'm going to hear from you," knowing the meeting was over, he quickly left the tent, following behind Clair. Once outside, she immediately turned on him.

"Listen, I'll go with you back to the camp...but once we're there you're going to have to be my guide. Until I can find a knowledgeable female camper, of course."

"What are you talking about?" he questioned, confused.

"I've have never been to Camp Half-Blood. The hunters found me after my father, Apollo, claimed me," she explained, shaking her head like it should have been obvious.

"Of course," He sighed, "lead the way, I'll keep an eye on my trophy," that got him an evil glare. They both sat out as he began to look forward to another journey of unending awkward silence.


So there it is, please read and review, offer any criticisms, I would love to hear any ways to improve my writing style. Hope you enjoyed it.